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Gentleman, what are your thoughts on this?

My friend Geoff has asked me if I can help him replace his crank end seal with the engine in place. It's the front seal and it's been leaking badly for years. My concern is not being able to get it dry enough or de-oiled enough with the engine still in the car for the dab of silicone to seal the join where the two half's of the seal meet.
The engine is an aluminium Dart Windsor (not sure if that makes any difference).

When I built my Cleveland years ago I remember taking my time to install the end seals and apply the dab of silicone where the two half's of the seal meet. I was lucky as the engine have never leaked oil.
The block was completely degreased though and it was easy on an engine stand.
Has anybody done this with the engine still in the car and been successful?

Johnny
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If it is the seal between the oil pan and the bottom of the timing cover then just pull the oilpan and replace the gaskets. I replaced mine with a one piece (Milodon I think) reuseble one (see pic). Should be easy to clean up the area where the gaskets meet if you use the original gaskets/rubber seal.

If it's the front crank seal you'll, as forest mention, have to pull the balencer and the timing cover, as the seal insert from the inside of the cover.

Kristian

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Kristian's right, Johnny- you can simply drop the front of the pan down a few inches without actually removing it, remove the harmonic balancer for access and replace the front pan seal from the passenger seat. The two ends up in the corners where the pan, block and seal all come together are the tricky areas to get sealed but it can successfully be done w/engine in situ.
THe front CRANK seal can also be R & R-ed with engine in place, without disturbing the pan, as long as no one has accidently installed a 351-W front crank seal. Coincidently, the Windsor front crank seal will also fit the Cleveland engine, but it lacks the 351-C's front flange for easy R & R. So in that case the whole front plate must be removed to get at the Windsor seal. With a 351-C seal, wedging a flat screwdriver between the bad seal's flange and the front plate will easily pop it out.
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